LOCAL PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY 35 II. Exporters of police- and security-related equipment to the Caucasus and Central Asia As discussed in section I of this chapter, the market for new law-enforcement products in the Caucasus and Central Asia is continuing to open up, allowing a wider range of companies to showcase their products. Defence and security equipment-manufacturing companies are keen to take advantage of what are perceived to be lucrative emerging markets and exploit potential avenues for new sales. For example, Beretta rifles have been known to be deployed in Turkmenistan since at least 2012; according to news reports from April 2014, the President of Turkmenistan met with the Vice President and Managing Director of Italy-based Pietro Beretta SpA to discuss possibilities for further cooperation.94 Other trade opportunities are increasingly available to international companies wishing to promote their goods in the region. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine have all hosted annual or biennial international trade exhibitions where companies from many different states display and offer for sale law-enforcement equipment. All four countries hosted such fairs in 2014, while Azerbaijan also hosted the inaugural Azerbaijan International Defence Industry Exhibition (ADEX) in Baku in September 2014. While the Ukrainian exhibition had fewer representatives from outside of Ukraine, representatives from companies based in the Caucasus as well as from China, Europe, Israel, South Korea and the USA were present at the other law-enforcement exhibitions in 2014.95 Differing strategic alliances have understandably influenced the equipment manufactured or purchased by states in the region. For example, Israeli, Turkish and US crowd-control vehicles, weapons and ammunition have been observed being deployed in Azerbaijan and Georgia, both of which have increasingly close ties to these three significant ‘producer’ states. While certain equipment manufactured by Western companies is accompanied by a (comparatively) high price tag, the location of centres of manufacturing in Asia—and, in particular, in China—has meant that large quantities of police and security equipment is available relatively cheaply, thus allowing for the cost-effective equipping of police forces. A 2013 news article highlighted the issues relevant to the growth of new sources of supply for lawenforcement equipment: 94
‘Beretta ARX 160 in Turkmenistan’, The Firearm Blog, 27 Feb. 2012, <http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/02/27/beretta-arx-160-in-turkmenistan/>; and ‘Italian Pietro Beretta SPA studies Turkmen market’, Trend.az, 30 Apr. 2014, <http://en.trend.az/casia/turkmenistan/2268649.html>.
95 Ukrainian companies have, however, signed a number of licensed production agreements for the manufacture of arms and related articles with Israeli and Swiss companies, among others. See ‘Ukrainian copies of Swiss Brügger & Thomet APR rifles used during protests in Kiev’ <http://www.armamentresearch.com/ukrainian-copies-of-swiss-brugger-thomet-apr-rifles-used-duringprotests-in-kiev/ >. Science-Industrial Association “Fort”, product brochures on file with Omega Research Foundation.